To err are rice prices

Erratic pricing of rice marked the seasonal trading in the northern zone despite large government stockpiles.

Having grown two bumper crops in succession, farmers did not rush to sell their produce in order to get a reasonably fair price.

Farmers in the northern rice markets said there were ups and downs in aman prices this year.

At Poolhut wholesale market in Dinajpur, coarse aman rice was being sold at Tk 400 per maund (37.5 kg), Swarna at Tk 440, Paijam between Tk 500 and 550, Kataribhog at Tk 800 and Chinigura at Tk 1050.

At Teromile Bazaar, 13 kilometres north off Dinajpur town, aman paddy was on sale between Tk 550 and 600 per sack (75 kg).

Rabiul Hossain, a farmer from bordering area of Khanpur in Dinajpur, said, "Initially the prices offered to farmers were too low, but now prices started picking up gradually although they are yet to touch the expected level".

Dinajpur farmers snubbed the government's procurement drive as 'horrible', saying there were no rooms for stockpiling in the silos.

Officials in Dhaka said an all-time high reserve of one and a half million tonnes (MT) of foodgrains in the silos have put the government in a tough situation.

The government is going to immediately offload a big chunk of food reserves to deal with the problem. To start with, it is offloading 40,000 MT in the form of special Eid 'food bonus' for the poor and is aiming at downsizing the reserves to one million MT from 1.5 million by April.

Subsequent bumpers in last boro and current aman flooded rice markets. But the well-off farmers took a slow-go approach towards the season-opening sale and stockpiled some to get a high price.

"Late sale of farmers' own stock would provide them with necessary cash to buy inputs for boro planting starting from mid-January", explained one farmer.

Ashok Kumar, a wholesaler at Poolhut, said price might pick up gradually as demands from Dhaka and Chittagong were on the slide.

However, officials allayed fears about price fluctuations. They said at the beginning of the season farmers usually sell 'wet aman' which could earn relatively lower price for them. "But now that farmers are coming up with relatively better quality grains that are well sun-dried, good prices definitely wait for them."

Meanwhile, northern farmers doubted the government's projection of high aman output across the country, saying this year's yield is hardly anything near that of the previous year. Aman production did not mark any growth in northern zones, they added.

Sources in the agriculture ministry, however, justified the bumper projection of aman which is well over 10 million MT, saying paddy grew in plenty in aman season in the south and central districts.

Quoting some southern farmers, a Novartis news bulletin also projected good aman yield in Barisal and Satkhira.

According to the ministry officials, there have been very good yields also in the central districts of Faridpur and Gopalganj.